Polyphenols have shown an ability to reduce the activity of endoglucanases (amylases) in biologic solutions. J Agric Food Chemistry 2013, 61, pages 1477-1486. The mechanism of the reduction of endoglucanase activity appears to be due to the ability of polyphenols to associate with proteins through interactions with hydroxyl groups, carbonyl groups, or aromatic rings. J. Am Leather Chem. Assoc 2003, 98, pages 273-278. It has also been hypothesized that polyphenols inhibit the Maillard reaction by tying up or quenching some feed stock sugars and other transient reaction products that the reaction needs to proceed. Dr. Devin Peterson, National Meeting of the American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., Sep. 1, 2005. These findings may have implications regarding the efficacy of sugar conversion in commercial bioreactors.
However, the reduction of phenol levels decreases stability of enzymatic formulations and biogel formation becomes a significant problem. U.S. Pat. No. 8,741,855 discloses that polyphenol compositions allow for stabilization of solutions and the inhibition of the formation and growth of biofilms and consequent bacterial infection.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,349,591, the complete disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a method of enhancing enzyme activity. However, this patent does not disclose reducing phenol concentration.
Phenol concentrations have been reduced in waste water. Although the use of various agents such as peroxidase is well known for the treatment of wastewater, for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,016 and article by Kulkarni et. al., International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, Vol. 3, Issue 4, April 2013, no data or experimentation is available as to whether these methods are suitable for the use to remove phenols from organic solutions in order to alter/enhance the activities of enzymes contained in these solutions.
Bioreactors are now well known. In general, a bioreactor is a vessel in which a biochemical reaction takes place. Commercial-scale bioreactors typically have a capacity of over 1000 gallons. In commercial scale ethanol plants, bioreactors in which starch and cellulose are hydrolysed with enzymes typically have a capacity of 20,000 to 100,000 gallons. Fermentation vessels, within which enzymes catalyze biochemical reactions and microorganisms use reaction intermediates to produce metabolites, typically have a capacity of 100,000 to 1,000,000 gallons. Conditions such as temperature, pressure, pH and solution viscosity are tightly controlled within bioreactors due to the sensitivity of biochemicals and microorganisms. For example bioreactors within which starch and cellulose are hydrolysed typically have temperatures in the range of 75 to 100 degrees Celsius for starch and 45 to 75 degrees Celsius for cellulose.
Commercial enzyme preparations typically contain a high concentration of enzymes, between 5 mg/mL and 25 mg/mL. These commercial enzyme preparations, have the benefit of reducing the number of shipments and the required storage capacity in facilities that use industrial enzymes.
Liquid enzyme formulations are often dosed at 3 places in an ethanol plant;                1) The slurry system, where initial hydrolysis takes place. In a typical 40 million gallon per year dry-mill ethanol plant, alpha-amylase is often added at between 500 mg/min and 1200 mg/min.        2) The liquefaction system, where secondary hydrolysis takes place. In a typical 40 million gallon per year dry-mill ethanol plant, alpha-amylase is often added at between 1000 mg/min and 2000 mg/min.        3) The fermentation system, where final hydrolysis and fermentation of the product takes place. In a typical 40 million gallon/year dry-mill ethanol plant, the enzyme dose is in the range of between 60 and 120 Gallons in a 500,000 Gallon fermenter.        
These dose ranges are adjusted accordingly for different plant capacities. For instance, 100 million gallon per year dry-mill ethanol plants require an alpha amylase dose in the range of 1250 mg/min and 3000 mg/min in the slurry system and between 2500 mg/min and 5000 mg/min in slurry and liquefaction respectively.
In addition, ethanol plants may produce ethanol from different types of feedstock. These feedstocks will vary in terms of the amount of ethanol produced per ton of feedstock. For example, dry mill ethanol plants typically produce between 2.5 and 2.9 Gallons per bushel of corn. The corn is milled and mixed with water in a ratio of between 28% and 38% solids. The theoretical ethanol yield for a ton of corn stover is 113 Gallons per dry ton. Currently, solids ratios for ethanol production from biomass sources such as corn stover are lower than solids ratios for ethanol production from corn and other grains and is typically between 8 and 20% solids.
However, at high enzyme concentrations it is difficult to accurately dose low volumes of enzyme since, in the case of a 25 mg/mL protein, each milliliter contains 25 mg of protein, which may be more than one wants to dose over a particular time frame.
Phenols, such as hydroxycinnamic acid, hydroxybenzoic acid and other hydrolysable and condensed tannins are commercially valuable. The health benefits of these compounds are well documented. There is therefore value in isolating these phenols after removing them from a feedstock. A stream of purified phenols could provide an additional revenue stream for feedstock processors such as alcohol producers, sugar producers and oil seed processors.
Howell et al. have described a method by which proanthocyanidin, a hydrolysable tannin from cranberry, can be extracted with acetone and purified using a C-18 solid phase chromatography column. This method has been used by Kim et al. to isolate tannins that have been extracted from lignocellulosic biomass.i 